View full sizeFile PhotoMichigan State University may lose the $550 million Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), a project it was awarded by the federal government in 2008. U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said the funding is under review as a federal budget deficit looms.

A $550 million federal project that would establish a prized nuclear research facility at Michigan State University may not come to fruition.

Now, though, the funding may not be available, and the federal government is not committing.

"We have to be very careful," U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said Wednesday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, per WXYZ. "We can't be starting six things and we can only afford four things."

Chu said funding for the FRIB is under review as a federal budget deficit looms.

MSU spokesman Kent Cassella said the university understands the challenges of the current economic climate but remains confident in the FRIB project.

"We here at MSU recognize that these are difficult financial times, but remain optimistic in part because of the congressional support for the (FRIB), as was expressed in the fiscal 2012 spending bill agreed to in December," Cassella said.

"It's early in the budget process, so that's the next step that has to happen in (Washington) D.C. Everything MSU has done so far on the FRIB project, including our project reviews with the Department of Energy and Office of Science, has indicated to us that the project is on track."

View full sizeMSU photoA rendering of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University.

East Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group estimated the project could generate more than $1 billion in economic activity for the Greater Lansing region over 20 years, creating 400 permanent jobs, not including construction.

U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., was none too pleased with Chu's and the federal government's non-committal stance on the FRIB at MSU.

"The federal government in 2008 made a decision to go forward with the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams after an extensive competition," he said in a statement. "The Department of Energy entered into an agreement with MSU that includes time schedules and funding commitments by both parties to bring FRIB into operation by 2018.

"MSU and the state of Michigan have met their commitments in this partnership, and it would be unconscionable if the federal government failed to live up to its commitments in meeting this critical national priority."

MSU and the state's congressional delegation waged an intense campaign for the FRIB, overcoming competition from the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois.

The FRIB would be an extension of the research being done at MSU's National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory on the East Lansing campus.